smaccUS - Day 0

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of preparation and working extra shifts so that I could afford to spend this coming week in Chicago for SMACC:Chicago/SMACC:US (#smaccUS) - SMACC stands for Social Media and Critical Care. It's a combination of bloggers/podcasters/twitterers who have put on an annual conference in Australia, with a focus on Emergency Medicine/Critical Care. Best part? They open their doors to folks who aren't attending physicians - residents, interns, nurses, social workers, and even paramedics!

Anyway - I flew into Chicago on Tuesday, got checked into my hotel, and then met up with some folks I knew from Twitter to have dinner/drinks with the #EMSwolfpack: Apparently it's a thing. As best I can tell, it was started by a couple of Aussies (@jrparamed, @paramedickiwi, @paramedic_al, and @KablammoNick)

Not only was it "a thing" - It was an amazing tweetup with great international connections made. There were Aussies, Canadians, Americans, and I think even a couple of folks from New Zealand).

#emswolfpack @ChiPublicHouse #smaccUS pic.twitter.com/fixqwFCzKY

— Alex Mckenzie (@paramedic_al) June 24, 2015

In short, a bunch of folks who had never met each other had an evening chatting like we'd known each other for years. We compared protocols and scopes of practice, we swapped a few war stories, and we complained about the same things all medics do. And we had 50+ prehosptial practitioners get to know each other.

Anyway - As the conference continues, watch the #smaccUS and #EMSwolfpack hashtags for plenty of ongoing entertainment.